Joint for railroad tracks



Jim. 8, 1929. 1,697,844

' A. DEV ARMAS I JOINT FOR RAILROAD TRACKS Filed Feb. 5 1926 2Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. H. de firm ATTORNEY.

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Jan. 8, 1929.

A. DE'ARMAS JOINT FOR RAILROAD TRACKS Filed Feb. 5 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2IN VEN TOR. fl cZe firmq zm w 5&4

A TTORNEY.

Patented Jan. 8, 1929.

EYE

a 'p g JOINT FOR RAILROAD TRACKS.

Application filed February 5, 1926. Serial No. 86,290.

This invention relates to joints for railroad tracks which are known inthe art by couplings or fish-plates and its principal object is to avoidthe high cost of maintenance of the railroad tracks which makes therailroad companies expend enormous sums of money in salaries for theinspection of said tracks, as well as on new material, to be replaced.

Another object of the invention is to avoid the shock of the Wheels withthe border of the rail, when the trucks pass over the joint of two ofthem, as this shock is uncomfortable for the passengers and at the sametime wears 1' out the wheels of the trains or vehicle which one on theinner part and one on the outer part of the rail and held in place bymeans of screws and nuts that hold the rail in a rigid position. It hasbeen observed, notwithstanding, that owing to the expansion orcontraction of the material of which the rail is made, caused byclimatological changes the rails separate one from the other in someinstances, more than half of an inch, and that when this contraction orexpansion occurs, if a train or vehicle runs over the track it receivesa shock or rough movement which is disagreeable to the passengers and atthe same time wears out the running material owing to the frequency ofthe shocks as the material of which the wheels are made loses itscircular form thus causing the inconvenience above mentioned.

In the accompanying drawing wherein an approved embodiment of theinvention is illustrated,

Fig. 1 is a plan View of portions of the abutting ends of two railsshowing the invention applied to use.

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the gap produced between therail ends as the result of contraction of the rails.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary plan on a reduced scale of a portion of arailway track showing a pair of car wheels in full and dotted linepositions thereon.

Fig. l-is a perspective View of the bridging Fig. 6 is a transversesection onthe line 1 6-43 of Fig. 1, and

Figs. 7 and 8 are sectional views similar to Fig. 6 showingmodifications ofthe invention, each of the rails constituting the track7 being indicated generally by the numeral 1 and, as usual, isconstituted by the base 2, the web 3 and a head 4 on which the wheels 5of the rolling stock are supported. As usual, the rails are spiked tothe ties and the adjacent ends of the rails are coupled together at theoutside of the track by a fish-plate 6 having apertures 12 therein andprovided along its upper edge with a shoulder 8 underlying the heads ofthe adjacent rail ends. The medial or web portion 9 of the fish-plate isprovided with a channel or groove 10 presented to the webs of the railsand is turned laterally at its lower edge for engagement with the basesof the rails. The usual bolts 11 and nuts 14 are employed for securingthe fish-plate in position on the rail as will be hereinafter more fullyset forth, said bolts passing through the apertures 12 in the fishplateand corresponding apertures 13 in the webs of the rails.

It is well known that incident to contraction of the track rails due totemporary changes in temperature'the width of the gap between the railends increases to an extent that during the passage of the wheels of acar thereover a noticeable jolting of the wheels occurs and also therail ends are worn away. As stated, it is the object of the presentinvention to provide a continuous tread surface for the car wheel acrossthe gap between the rail ends, and to this end I provide the specialfish-plate or bridging member indicated at 15. v

The bridging piece consists of a body provided along its upper portionwith a projection 16 which is curved along that portion which ispresented to the rail ends, gradually undercut form is of slightlydifferent shape from the forms illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7. The rails 1areprovided with longitudinal ribs 18 which fit into a correspondinggroove.

provided in the bridge piece or member 15 for limiting the relativevertical displacement of the bridge member with respect to the railends. The body of the bridging member is provided with apertures 12?toaccommodate the bolts 11 which, as above stated,v also pass through;the webs, of the rails and the fish-plate 6.

From the foregoing itris evident that the tread} portion of, thebridgingmember 15 extending across the gap between-the rail endspresents a continuous tread surface for the wheels of the rolling stock,and thus avoids the-:jolti-ng and undesirable noise which ordinarilyaccompanies the passage of the wheels across the joint between the rail.ends.

It isevident that on the basic principles of this invention, manyalterations and variations can be made without altering the; spirit ofthe same and; for this reason I do. not restrict myself to what I havedescribed hereto'fore, and I desire that the patent protect what I statein the following claim.

WVhat I claim. is:

In a rail joint, adjacent rail ends, each in cluding-a head, Web andbase, approximately half of the heads of the adjacent rail ends beingcut away, a bridging member racially abutting the Websotthe; rail endsand pro- 7 vidfed with a, laterally and obliquelyunder cut projectionoccupying thecorrespondingly shaped. cut away portions of the rail ends,

the railshaving ribs thereon and the bridg ing member; havinggroove-therein receiving-said ribs and means securing the bridg-i mgmember to the rail ends.

In testimony WhereofI my signature.

ALBERTO DE ARMAS'.

